Day Care Liability Measure Signed in Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s day care centers must carry liability insurance to compensate families whose children are injured or killed while in the day care’s custody, under legislation signed into law by Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry.

The bill, entitled Demarion’s Law, is named for Demarion Pittman, a 3-year-old boy who suffered a heat stroke and extensive brain damage after being left in a stifling vehicle by employees of an uninsured day care facility in August 2007. The measure’s author, Rep. Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City, said the Pittman family will not benefit from the bill.

Demarion’s mother, Edna Pittman of Oklahoma City, said his medical expenses have topped more than $1 million since the incident and that it will cost millions more to care for him in the future.

The measure will require any day care center licensed by the Department of Human Services to carry liability insurance, beginning Nov. 1, 2008. Shelton said large commercial day care centers generally carry insurance, but many family-operated, home-based facilities do not.

The facilities will be required to carry a minimum of $200,000 of liability insurance, Shelton said.

The measure would also require day care facilities that are unable to obtain insurance to inform parents that they have no liability coverage. If a facility’s policy expires, it would be required to notify both DHS and the parents or caregivers of children in its care.

Demarion was in a coma for two months after he was left in a day care center van on Aug. 2, 2007, according to his mother.

He was left in the van for several hours following an outing to a bowling alley while in the care of day care center workers who apparently forgot about him after he fell asleep. His temperature was 117 degrees when he was finally pulled from the van.

Shelton said Demarion had been a normal 3-year-old boy but can no longer walk and talk and has to be fed through a tube.

At least 29 other states, including Texas, have similar insurance requirements for day care centers, Shelton said. Oklahoma’s law is modeled after the Texas statute, which requires its day care facilities to carry a minimum of $300,000 in liability coverage, he said.